Bulgarian companies will have to declare their beneficial owners by 1 February 2019.
Following the entry into force of the new Measures against Money Laundering Act, an obligation has been introduced for all companies registered in the country to declare their actual owners by 1 February 2019.
The declaration shall be made by filing an application for registration of the actual owners No B7, which shall consist of two parts, one concerning the companies related to offshore companies and the other all the other legal entities.
By a declaration in the Commercial Register the following identification data for the beneficial owners will be entered: names; citizenship; PIN or date of birth for non-Bulgarian citizens and country of residence.
The companies who don’t have a representative (physical person) who is a permanent resident of Bulgaria, it must provide the data of a contact person permanently resident in the territory of the country. The representative will also have to provide his notarized consent to be the contact person of such a company.
Any company that does not submit an application in time to declare its beneficial owners, is subject to a state sanction from 1 000 BGN to 10 000 BGN. Moreover, the law states that once sanctioned, the company will be sanctioned every month with these amounts until it declares the UBO.
The Measures against Money Laundering Act specifically states which companies fall under the mandatory disclosure requirement of their actual owners. These are: legal entities established on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and other legal entities whose owners are not visible in the Commercial Register. The Act states that “the data of the beneficial owners shall be entered if they are not entered on any other grounds in the lots or files of the companies or other legal entities in the relevant register as natural persons who are sole proprietors or partners with at least 25 percent shareholding”.
Where the actual owners are natural persons other than those listed and on a ground other than the direct holding of shares, the data about them is entered in the Commercial Register.
Access to this information will be provided by the Financial Intelligence Directorate of the State Agency for National Security, the Bulgarian National Bank, the Financial Supervision Commission and some other state bodies and organizations obliged to carry out a comprehensive check on the beneficial owners.
Contact us in case you need additional information regarding the process of declaring the UBO.
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